


All In A Glance

by TWDObsessive



Category: The Walking Dead (TV), The Walking Dead - All Media Types
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode: s05-10 Them, Falling In Love, First Kiss, Grief/Mourning, Grinding, Hurt/Comfort, Love, M/M, Passion, Rickyl, Slow Build
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-29
Updated: 2015-04-29
Packaged: 2018-03-26 09:38:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3846055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TWDObsessive/pseuds/TWDObsessive
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This one-shot was inspired by the intensely powerful three-second gaze between Rick and Daryl as they, and the others, held the walkers and a tornado back with a barn door in "Them", Episode 5-10.</p>
            </blockquote>





	All In A Glance

**Author's Note:**

> Taking a break from my chapter stories because the muse hit as I was re-watching an old episode.
> 
> Thanks as always to my Beta reader, Skarlatha! (Keep an eye out for her stuff! She'll be posting something new soon!)

Every moment they were still alive, they were still alive. They were hungry. They were completely dehydrated. They could barely hold knives above their heads anymore and counted more on gravity than strength to stab into the dead. But they were walking and they were alive.

Rick looked back at his people, all of them trudging forward. Empty gazes. No words. Judith in his arms, starting to fuss for the first time in hours.

"She's hungry." Daryl said as he kept pace by Rick's side.

Rick shifted her. "She's fine." He'd never seen his brother look so bad. Beth's death had broken him. The man had endured and survived through so much, but everyone has their breaking point. Rick had been able to read Daryl completely with just a glance for years. But now, there was nothing in his blue eyes. They've been empty voids since the hospital.

"Daryl?" Rick said, not knowing what he even had to say next.

Daryl didn't respond. Just kept his dazed face forward. Shoulders back. Hiding his clouded expression behind his unruly hair.

"I'm gonna look for water," he said, turning into the woods without breaking stride, slow as it might be.

"Don't be too long," Rick called after him, his dry throat aching at the effort to speak up.

The hunter was never one to do much talking. But hearing so little of his voice these past weeks and losing the comfort of the eye contact and subtle nods they'd always shared left a pain in Rick's chest that was harder to ignore than the hunger and thirst.

Later, as they all sat on the side of the road resting, Rick watched the hunter. They sat near each other, like always, but not as close. Not shoulder against shoulder like they had every day and night for years. Daryl's expression was blank. He stared forward, looking at something that wasn't there.

Rick handed him one of the few bottles of water they had all been sharing. There were maybe half a dozen swallows left. The hunter didn't notice. "Daryl," Rick said as he shook the bottle in front of him.

"Save it for her," he said not turning his head. Rick knew he meant Judith. He looked down at his daughter. She was quieter than any baby should have to be, but Rick was thankful for it. He knew Daryl had a soft spot for the baby.

"You wanna hold her for a while?" he asked.

Daryl shook his head, still keeping his vacant stare into the woods before them.

Rick put a hand on his shoulder. The normally skittish loner had long ago gotten used to friendly touches from his new family, from Rick in particular. And even in his current state of despair, he remained still at the warmth of the leader's hand instead of pulling away.

"Daryl. Don't leave me," Rick said quietly. "I need you, brother."

Several unresponsive seconds ticked by. Finally the hunter turned to Rick, "Ain't goin' anywhere, man." And reached for Judith. Rick sighed in relief at getting some words out of him. He leaned back onto the tree trunk behind him with a smile playing on his lips as he watched Judith grab at Daryl's stringy hair and giggle softly as he pretended to pull on hers.

Rick watched his face. He tried to smile for his lil' asskicker, which was more than he'd done in weeks, but the smile didn't reach his eyes.

He noticed a burn on the hunter's hand that he hadn't seen before. He knew this man so well, had cataloged all his scars and injuries even during the past few weeks. This was new, but looked the same as some of the marks on his back.

"Wha's that?" Rick asked with a tired voice, grabbing at Daryl's hand.

"S nothin'," the hunter responded, pushing Rick away. He tried to lock onto his brother's gaze. To read in his eyes what happened. But the hunter kept his eyes on Judith.

"Daryl. You tell me what I can do."

"Ya can't do nothin' ,Rick. None a' us can," he said as he pulled a dandelion out of the ground and tucked it behind Judy's ear. He laughed softly when she grabbed it and threw it on the ground. "Yah," he said softly, "you ain't a girly-girl, you an asskicker, right?"  
...........

The group of them, a little over a dozen in total, sat along side the road for hours without a single word. The sticky hot Georgia sun drenching them in sweat. Lips dry. Sun coloring everyone's skin. Judith asleep in Carl's arms. And suddenly, a soft far away rumble broke the silence.

Michonne stood. And Tara. Eugene. The survivors looked up at a greying sky. Fat droplets of water started falling from dark clouds. A few laughed in joy. Rick heard Father Gabriel talking to his God. The leader rose to his feet. "Open your bottles. Check your bags, use everything you have." And the group moved faster than they had in weeks, most taking a moment to crane their heads up to drink directly from the sky. Rick watched Daryl. He hadn't moved and kept his eye on the dark grey clouds that were off in the distance.

"Drink, brother," Rick told him and handed him the open water bottle again. He took it, drank and met Rick's eyes as he handed it back.

"Don't like the look 'a those clouds," he said, and Rick read the concern in the pools of blue that were finally connecting with him.

A louder rumble made the others stop and look above them. The wind picked up.

"We gotta keep moving," Rick yelled over the sound of the storm.

"There's a barn," Daryl yelled.  
.....

Once inside the old red building, the family huddled in small groups. Some succumbed to sleep despite the angry sounds of the storm. Daryl sat by Rick's side at the fire as the leader talked about living. Daryl walked away at one point after growing frustrated at the conversation. Looking for space and some solitude, he waked back out towards the front of the barn.

The doors were held shut by a chain but they rattled madly as the wind and rain beat down on the building from above. A flash of lightning lit the sky. And Daryl saw dozens of walkers descending upon them. He threw his body against the door, looking behind him for help, not wanting to yell.

He pushed his tired muscles to fight the door shut and finally heard the moans of the dead mixed in with the downpour and the creaks and groans of the building straining against the wind. The door buckled in at the weight of the walkers. Daryl felt another body slam into the door. Maggie. Then Noah and the group all noticed the danger and scrambled to throw their bodies against the threat. As Daryl pushed at the center of the double doors surrounded by his family, he felt Rick at last press in beside him.

He knew it was Rick by the frame of his body, his height, his smell. He glanced over at his leader. Held his eyes. This is where it ends.

Daryl regretted his weeks of sorrow. Regretted keeping Rick at a distance when he was so clearly devastated by the hunter's sudden aloofness. He was grieving Beth but he should have used his last weeks to sink into Rick. Accept the comfort the leader so desperately wanted to give. Allow the man to console him. He told Rick in this glance that he loved him. And Rick's steady stare responded that he knew. And he loved Daryl too. And goodbye.

The hunter wasn't ready. He didn't want to say goodbye. He wanted to say a million things he should've said by now. And in those few seconds of blue on blue, Daryl told Rick everything, like confession. And in Rick's eyes Daryl read clearly- the leader was worried too, not just that their end was descending upon them like a speeding freight train, but that he also had left too much unsaid.

The door was pushed back and forth, one side from the living and one side from the dead. The survivors had trudged along for weeks, each wanting to give up at various points, but someone else was always there with the right nod or touch or words to comfort and strengthen. They'd reached their all-time low. All of them. But now, all so weak and raw, they fought the door closed with their sheer will to live.

Behind the doors they heard the sound of their end. Like a literal freight train coming right towards them, the noise stabbed with sounds of crashing thunder.

\-------

Daryl sat alone against a wall still close to the door afterwards. He watched as everyone split into small groups to sleep and comfort each other. Rick sat next to his kids, a hand on both their heads.

He watched as Rick rose from his spot by his slumbering children and searched the room. He caught a glimpse of Daryl through the archway and slowly made his way to the hunter.

Daryl could tell he was hiding winces with every bow-legged step, muscles aching. He sat beside the hunter and met his eyes.

"Y'ok?" He asked.

Daryl nodded.

Rick laughed awkwardly. "Thought that was it."

"Yah."

Their eyes met again and spoke volumes. But Rick had promised himself as he pressed against that door that he would make sure Daryl knew how important he was. Not just through unspoken glances.

"Need ya by my side," Rick muttered.

"m' always by yer side, Rick," Daryl said.

"'Fraid you was gonna check out on me... On us... These past few weeks."

Daryl latched on to Rick's eyes. "Yer the only reason I ain't put a bullet through my head," he said in his raspy murmur. "I ain't gonna leave ya, man. I can't."

Rick grabbed the hunter's neck and pulled their foreheads together. He could feel Daryl's blood pumping faster. He kissed the corner of Daryl's eye and then pressed their foreheads back.

"Daryl, I--"

"I know," Daryl interrupted. "Me too."

Rick pulled his forehead away again and softly pressed his lips back to the corner of Daryl's eye, then his cheek bone. The hunter's breaths grew shallow and hitched as Rick moved his hand from the back of the hunter's neck to it's side and ran his thumb along the line of his jaw.

Their eyes met and both sets darkened to a deepening blue with widening pupils that said yes. Rick slowly pressed his lips to Daryl's as the hunter's lips parted. Rick felt the man shaking.

He pressed his other hand against Daryl's hip to steady the hunter as their mouths fit into place and slowly moved together. The kiss was like water to thirst and the first sips turned into a guzzle as Daryl finally reached for Rick, lacing his fingers into the leader's damp curls. He welcomed Rick's tongue and then used his own to taste his leader. The kiss was like nourishment and both men were starved. Their tongues and lips danced in perfect harmony as Rick moved to kneel straddling Daryl's lap, devouring him in heated kisses. He wanted to get closer, stay closer. Be together with this man who's been his lifeline for years. Daryl's hands dropped from Rick's hair to his hips and he gripped them with curling fingers that would surely leave bruises.

Rick's hands had moved into Daryl's hair, brushing loose strands back from his face then holding tight at base of his neck. He felt heat in his core and realized that he'd grown hard and his hips ground into Daryl's hardness. Every time he gasped for breath he felt like he wanted to tell Daryl every thought in his head, but could only get out "Daryl" before their mouths greedily met again for more.

Daryl couldn't remember the last time anyone touched him like this. Maybe never. So intimately and passionately. He didn't remember ever wanting anyone to touch him like this, kiss him like this, hold him like this. But he knew instantly that this moment is all he will crave every second of every day. He would live for this. He wanted to live for this. To be safe in Rick's arms. Protecting him and being protected by him at the same time. He was hard and desperate for more of this feeling, this heat. Fingers dug into Rick as the leader ground against him murmuring Daryl's name between kisses.

Their panting grew louder, as they pressed against each other trying be as physically close as possible. Their mouths broke apart and they watched each other, pupils blown, reading each other's eyes like they always have. Their breaths coming faster and faster.

"Gonna cum, Rick" Daryl moaned quietly and Rick nodded and ground harder. The hunter arched his back, mouth dropping open. "Oh God!" he gasped quietly and felt himself exploding as Rick bucked against him, moaning low, fisting his hands in Daryl's hair as he joined the hunter.

There was no shame. There was no embarrassment. There was no regret. There was only love. Rick sat back down against the wall shoulder to shoulder with his hunter as they caught their breath.

Everything changed and nothing changed.

**Author's Note:**

> If you have a moment to leave me a note, I'd love to hear comments and feedback!


End file.
